I know that every one of you has a pretty good swing. You can use it to get the ball in the fairway, and get the ball on or near the green. But for some reason you don’t. That’s because you get caught up by the #1 swing wrecker in golf — the ball.
Take four practice swings, without rushing, but take four practice swings in a row. Seems simple. Now step up to the ball. Did something change? Did knowing that you were going to hit a ball cause you to think different thoughts, or even have a different state of mind, if you are sensitive to those things?
If so, what’s killing your golf is not some technical flaw in your swing, but the way you use your mind. The ball cannot change things. It just cannot. Your swing is the same whether there is a ball there or not.
When you make your practice swings, you have an expansive, unconcerned state of mind. It feels good. It feels capable. It feels right.
I believe the major golfing skill, more important than any other, is to maintain that state of mind when you are about to hit the ball. If you can, you will play the best golf you are capable of. You will play up to your technical limits, and that is all you can ask of yourself.
Here’s a drill to teach yourself how to do that. Be warned, this is a very difficult drill — and I’m not kidding.
Put a ball on the ground. Now step back a bit and take four or five practice swings. Swing enough times so that the thought of hitting a ball has vanished from your mind, and all you feel is the motion of your swing.
Now step up to the ball and address it. If you switch to thinking about hitting the ball, stop. Don’t make another move. Step back and take more practice swings until “hit the ball” leaves your mind. Step up to the ball once more. If you start thinking, “hit the ball,” step away and begin again.
At some point, you will decide that the ball is not worth all the time you are wasting, and you’ll decide to get it right. When that happens, you will have taken the first step to learning that the ball is not in control — you are. Keep going and take more steps. Having one experience is not enough. To get the most out of this exercise, you should do it all the time, and make it your principle golf drill.
Now I want to add on another condition. If at any time you think, “hit the ball,” stop and start over. Not just at address, but during the swing. If you’re starting your downswing and you think about the ball, stop. Do not complete that swing. If you do, you will reinforce the wrong feeling.
You’re teaching yourself to hit the ball without having hitting the ball in mind. You will teach yourself to do that only if that is your state of mind.
What am I saying? I’m saying this: when you eat your cereal in the morning, you don’t think at all about your spoon, or the cereal you’re loading on to it, or getting the spoon into your mouth instead of hitting your chin. You just scoop up some cereal and eat it.
That is the same state of mind you need to be in when you hit a golf ball. That’s what this drill will teach you if you stick with it. I believe that the more time you put into learning how to do the drill correctly, the better it will be for your golf.